The Wild Card
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: Batman and Robin attempt to save a girl the Joker has taken prisoner, and wind up becoming two new pawns in his game.
1. Chapter 1

The Wild Card

Nobody noticed the young girl who entered the Gotham City Bank that sunny Monday morning. Nobody paid any mind to the girl who pushed past everybody else and appeared to be entranced by something, and just continued walking forward like a zombie who was being controlled by someone else's authority. Everybody was too busy to notice her, but she kept pushing past everybody and pushed open the doors and stepped into the middle of the bank's large front room where everybody was standing around trying to see somebody about their accounts. She stopped in the middle of the room and her head swayed from one side to the other without her stopping to really see much of anything, and then she just started laughing.

First it was a small chuckle that was hardly audible, and then the noise grew louder and louder until she was shrieking hysterically, and _that_ was when everybody noticed her. Every head turned to look at her and wonder just what was the matter with her. Among everybody staring in confusion and wonder was Dick Grayson, who like everybody else, wasn't sure what had happened, but he had a sickening suspicion that an old enemy was somehow connected to the sight before him.

She looked to be about 15, her hair was messed up as though she had just come from a fight, she was dressed in what could have been a respectable manner in blue jeans and a blue plaid button up shirt, but she was barefoot and there were tears on her sleeves and her breast pocket was about ripped off. She stood in front of everybody looking like she had just escaped from a disaster area and she was laughing her head off. Some people mumbled amongst themselves about what to do with her but when her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the floor, screams erupted from the panicked citizens and everybody rushed to help her.

Dick pushed past everybody to try and get to her first to see what was the matter. When he finally got up front his eyes grew wide with shock as he saw a huge all too familiar grin formed on the girl's face. It appeared that his underlying suspicion was right, it appeared that whatever was going on, the Joker was involved.

Some time later the commotion at the bank had died down because when the police and paramedics arrived, they transferred the girl to the hospital. That was where the real crowd was building up, outside there were spectators and passersby and camera men, inside there were the police and the doctors, and Batman was the last to arrive. Commissioner Gordon and the doctor who was treating the girl led him up to her room as they went over the details of what they had so far.

"We gave her oxygen which seemed to counteract the effects of the gas," he explained.

"What gas?" Batman asked.

"Had a few patients come in with it this week, it seems the Joker has come up with a new weapon to thrust onto the public. Some sort of laughing gas, it makes people do crazy things but it doesn't seem to be powerful enough to kill anybody who inhales it…of course, we haven't had anybody yet who's inhaled _that_ much so it may be premature to suggest that."

"The Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum several months ago, for the longest time nobody had heard anything out of him," Batman said, "It was as though he'd dropped off the face of the planet."

"Well it seems he's resurfaced," Commissioner Gordon told him, "Apparently this girl has been spotted in the midst of several of his more recent appearances. Every time he disappears before we can catch him, and we can't turn up a trace of him…but whatever he's doing now, nobody knows what to make of it. Last week several witnesses said that this girl was jumped by a mugger in some alley, and the Joker just seemed to come out of nowhere and attack the guy. Apparently he'd stored several dosages of this toxin into an inhaler and forced it into the guy's mouth. They had him sent here, he recovered and now he's in jail but he didn't have anything to say about what happened, as though he had no memory of it."

"Our patient this time doesn't seem to have taken in nearly the amounts of his laughing gas the others have," the doctor added.

"Is she conscious?" Batman wanted to know.

"She is conscious and she is aware, somewhat. She knows where she is but she doesn't appear to be able to say who she is," he answered, "We weren't really sure Jane Doe fit her so for the time being we're addressing her as Miss X, she seems to be going along with it. We ran some tests to see if there was any brain damage. Most of those we're waiting on the results but so far most of it looks good."

"Most of it?"

"I didn't find anything she might've been born with but a scan did show some slight head trauma…I'm guessing she hit her head hard against something, probably a couple years ago, not enough to mentally disable her in anyway, she just seems a bit…handicapped by it."

"And nobody noticed anything unusual before she went into the bank?"

"Not a thing," Commissioner Gordon replied, "Though she has had a visitor stay with her. Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson, he was at the bank when it happened and the first at her side when she collapsed. He rode over in the ambulance and hasn't left the room since. He doesn't seem to know her either but he's been genuinely shaken up by the whole thing."

"I'm sure he has been," Batman said.

"Here we are," the doctor said, "Room 302. Don't be surprised if she doesn't have any useful information for us," he shook his head, "She may not be retarded but it's a needle in a haystack getting straight answers from her."

The doctor opened the door and the three men stepped into the room. The girl was in bed dressed in one of the hospital's white gowns and her head was bandaged up from when she fell. Dick Grayson sat in a chair next to the bed listening to her as she tried to explain something.

"Oh look at that," she said, "We have company." She looked up at Batman and asked, "Is it Halloween already?"

The look on her face after she said that suggested that she was trying very hard not to laugh about something.

"Miss X," the doctor said, "These men would like to see you, this is Commissioner Gordon from the Gotham City Police Department, and this is Batman, he assists the police."

She nodded tiredly as though she were just humoring them, "Yes, I see…what…what did you want to talk to me about?"

Despite everything he'd done in his career of fighting crime and protecting the innocent, nothing seemed odder to Batman than having to address somebody who didn't have a name. "Do you know why you were in the bank today?"

"Uh…" she shook her head, "Sorry."

"Do you remember anything before the bank?"

She nodded, "Yes sir, I do…"

"What?"

"A lot."

"_Today_, do you remember anything about today?" Commissioner Gordon asked.

"Uh…" she shook her head again, "Can't say I do. Should I?" She looked to the doctor and said, "I don't like it here…can't I go home?"

"Do you know where home is?" Dick asked her.

She turned to look at him and smiled, "You're cute, didn't we meet before?"

"Do you have any family we can get in touch with?" Commissioner Gordon asked.

"Nope," she answered, "I'm alone…always have been…I'd like to go home now."

The three men left the room to talk in private.

"She doesn't know who she is, or where she lives and she says she has no family," the doctor said, "I hate to do it but I think given the circumstances the only thing we can do is report her to Child Services."

Batman turned to Commissioner Gordon and asked, "Do you know if there have been any missing girls in the area lately who might match her description?"

"Nothing recent," Commissioner Gordon answered.

"I wonder," Batman replied, "That hit she took to the head," he turned to the doctor, "Do you know if she was treated for it?"

"She might have been but I can't really say for certain."

"She might have been missing for quite a while," Batman said, "Commissioner, check all missing reports for anybody who might fit her age and description, go as far back as you have to, she may have been gone from her home for several years. In the meantime, I suggest we get her picture out and see if anybody can identify her. I wouldn't recommend calling the services just yet…you said you were still waiting on test results to make sure she's alright, make sure it takes a while and she has to stay here for observation."

"Right," the doctor said.

"That might be a good idea," Commissioner Gordon said, "Based on what we've gathered so far, she might somehow be connected to what the Joker's been up to lately…" and then another thought occurred to him, "But if we put her picture out, he could have any one of his flunkies come in pretending to be some long lost relative who's been searching for her. That in mind the hospital may not be the best place to keep her, if we put round-the-clock cops on guard outside her room, people are going to get suspicious."

"Perhaps," Batman said, "Once she checks out with the doctors you could see about putting her in temporary custody of somebody you can trust."

"Like who?" Commissioner Gordon asked, "If word gets out about what's going on, not too many people are going to be anxious to let her move in with them. And as many people saw her breakdown today…"

"What about Bruce Wayne?" Batman suggested, "Do you think he'd be up for it?"

Commissioner Gordon looked shocked, "Oh no, I couldn't put that responsibility on him…he's a busy man, he's already got one kid to look after."

"As I said," Batman told him, "It would only be temporary until we can find out who she is…I'm sure if you were to call him later and ask him about it, he'd be very understanding about the whole ordeal."

"I hate to put it off on Bruce," Gordon said, "But I really don't think there's any other way to go about it…I don't think I could put up with her and even if I could, I'm not home enough for it…at least…if Bruce says yes, he wouldn't have to do it single handedly. I…I'll ask him tonight and see what he says. One thing's for certain, until we can find out if she knows anything about the Joker, she's not safe where just anybody can get access to her."

* * *

"You're going to what?" Dick asked Bruce that evening.

"Until we can get any answers about what's going on," Bruce said, "We have to make sure she's somewhere that the Joker can't get her. He's smart enough to figure a way past any policeman they could put outside her room at the hospital. Here, it would be a different story altogether."

"I don't know, Bruce," Dick replied, "Something about it doesn't seem quite right."

"Where the Joker's involved, nothing's quite right," he replied, "Gordon's right, the last few times that there seems to have been any sign of the Joker, this girl is somehow involved."

"You think she's an accomplice?" Dick asked.

"May be, or she may simply be an innocent bystander who's in the wrong pace at the wrong time, continuously…since we couldn't find out anything from her, we have to assume anything and everything right now…and if she is connected in any way, we have to find out."

"Sir," Alfred said as he drew into the conversation, "If I might ask, _how_ exactly has this young woman been getting caught up in his latest…strategies?"

"Last week, he forced his laughing gas on a man who tried to mug her…before that, she was spotted in the middle of a riot that his thugs had orchestrated down by the jeweler's…before that, one of his customized bombs went off near the courthouse and several eyewitnesses put her with the package just moments before it went off. Every time she managed to slip away before police could find her to question her; this time she couldn't get away and we can't get any answers. This time she came up herself with his laughing gas in her lungs."

A thought occurred to Dick, "Could the gas have effected her brain to the point she's at?"

"It doesn't seem likely as other patients have come in after inhaling far larger doses and after a few hours they were fine," Bruce answered.

"Maybe he's improved it," Dick suggested.

"Might be, but the doctor suggests she's been this way since she injured her head a couple years ago," Bruce said.

"If that's true," Dick said, "And he is using her for something, I can't see how much good she could be doing him."

"All the same, it's better if we don't take any chances," Bruce responded.

The phone rang. "That'll probably be Gordon," he said.

After about ten minutes, the phone conversation had ended between the two men. Bruce hung up the phone and saw Dick and Alfred looking at him in suspense.

"Well?" Dick asked.

"Well," Bruce replied, "Get some cigars, it's a girl."

"I'll get a room ready, sir," Alfred said.

"The doctors are going to keep her overnight for observation but they figure we should be able to come in at 8 in the morning and bring her home with us," Bruce explained, "No offense to the doctors at the hospital but I think we could keep a better eye on her here than they can there."

* * *

They arrived at the hospital ten minutes early the next day to make sure the doctors were going to release the girl into their custody. But what they found instead when they got there was what seemed to be every police car on the spot while the officers were going left and right about this and that and the other.

"What's going on?" Dick asked.

They got past the other officers and over to Commissioner Gordon, who was talking with the doctors.

"Commissioner," Bruce said, "What's going on?"

"It's that girl, she's gone!"

"What?" Dick couldn't believe what he'd heard.

"What do you mean gone?" Bruce asked.

"The windows were open in her room and there were tracks leading over to the window and stopping there…there are no signs of forced entry and a guard had been posted outside her room last night before I called you…but it looks like somebody managed to get in and kidnap her all the same!"


	2. Chapter 2

There had been no sign of forced entry in her hospital room. No fingerprints belonging to anybody except the staff who all checked out, the girl and the police when they had been in the room. The guard that had been issued outside her door gave a statement that in the several hours he stood watch he did not see anything unusual in the hallway and did not hear anything going on inside the room. Everybody was at a loss of what had happened and the bad news didn't end there.

"Since she was brought in with no injuries, no bruising, cuts or other physical marks, no pictures were taken so the best we can do is have the doctors who treated her talk to a sketch artist," Commissioner Gordon told Bruce Wayne, "She was brought in with no personal items, no wallet, no purse, no driver's license, absolutely nothing that could help us in identifying her."

"There is one thing that might help us," the doctor said, "When we undressed her to get her into a gown, we noticed that she had a tattoo."

"What tattoo?" Commissioner Gordon asked.

"On the sole of her right foot, two initials, J.N. She couldn't tell us what it meant though."

"But are you sure it's a permanent tattoo, not just something that she could've washed off?" Gordon wanted to know.

The doctor answered, "We see a lot of kids with homemade tattoos, pen ink, permanent markers, I'll guarantee this one was the real deal. If not, it's a dye that won't come off for months so it could still help in finding her."

"Oh what a fine ordeal this is going to be," one of the officers said, "Stopping every teenage girl on the streets and taking off their right shoes. The whole thing's one big joke that's not funny."

"Nothing the Joker does ever is," Gordon replied, then he turned to Bruce, "I know this is all very confusing but I think we'll need Dick to come talk to a sketch artist as well since he was the first one who really saw her."

Dick nodded, "Sure, Commissioner."

Dick and Bruce followed the police back to the station and they had Dick sit down with a sketch artist and he recalled the best he could what the girl looked like. While he did that, Bruce spoke with Commission Gordon, who was just at a loss.

"The Joker's pulled some odd ones before but I can't make heads or tails of this one," he said, "Nobody knows who this girl is, nobody saw her before the Joker started resurfacing in Gotham…and nobody knows how she's connected or why. And now she up and disappears and for all we know, he's got his hands on her."

"Well do you think that he'd…"

"Right now I don't know what to think, Bruce…we can't prove it but she's somehow connected to his recent string of crimes, I just don't know how. I'm hoping when Batman gets here he'll have a better idea than we do because right now we don't have anything to go on," Gordon said to him.

* * *

The sketch went out and there were police patrolling every scene of the Joker's most recent crimes. For days the disappearance of Miss X from the hospital held the headlines. At the request of Commissioner Gordon, the police and the reporters left Bruce and Dick alone, and Batman and Robin joined in what seemed a futile effort to find the missing girl.

Bruce woke up and found himself surrounded by darkness. Looking over at the clock by the bed he saw it was three in the morning. He'd only gotten to sleep about an hour ago but felt wide awake. He didn't know why but an idea came to him that he should check in on Dick. Putting on his robe, he left the bedroom and walked down the hall and peered into the other bedroom. The shades were open and the light from the moon shone in and he saw Dick laying in bed, his feet flat on the bed with his knees in the air and his eyes were wide open looking up at the ceiling.

"Dick," he said, quietly so as not to wake Alfred, none of them had had a decent night's sleep since this whole mess started, "It's late."

There was no reply from the young man on the other side of the room. Bruce stepped in and went over to the bed to make sure he was alright.

"I should've stayed with her," was all he said.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"If I'd stayed with her at the hospital instead of coming home…"

"You can't blame yourself," Bruce said, "We don't know how she got out of that hospital room with nobody knowing, nobody does."

"You can be sure the Joker does," Dick replied.

"Don't jump to any conclusions just yet," Bruce told him. He pulled the covers up and added, "Go back to sleep."

He tried but as the night wore on he just couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes he saw that daze and disheveled girl in the bank. He saw her in the ambulance, wide eyed and a big grin and how she fought with the paramedics when they tried to give her oxygen; and he wondered where she was now and what was happening to her.

* * *

The days drudged on, slowly turning to weeks, and finally the press got tired of the story and all the hysteria died down and everybody had forgotten about the strange young girl; all except for the police and Batman and Robin, and Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson. Every day when Dick went out into the world, everywhere he went he looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of her and find out what had happened to her. But the days passed and still there existed no sign of her.

Nights he still found it impossible to sleep and he would lay awake blaming himself for leaving her, and wondering when and if they would ever find anything that could lead them to her again. And if they ever did find her, he dreaded having to think in terms of _if_ she was still alive.

He didn't tell Bruce he couldn't sleep, but he suspected it had to show on him the following mornings. It certainly was when he went to school because he became prone to nodding off during classes; which he had never done before. Many was the time that one of his friends had to wake him up before the professor took notice that not everybody in the class was accounted for.

However, it wasn't only Dick who was suffering from the sickening twist of events. Bruce was also finding it harder to sleep lately, wondering many of the same things, where the girl was, who she was, if she was alright, if the Joker had her, and what he was doing to her, and why.

Bruce however, had no idea that his own fatigue from the sleepless nights were noticeable to anyone else, until the day he found a red pill on his breakfast plate.

"What is this, Alfred?" he asked as he picked up the small red capsule and looked it over.

"A barbiturate, sir," Alfred answered, "I took the liberty of having a prescription filled for you."

Bruce sighed and tossed the pill away and remarked, "I'm not amused, Alfred."

"Good, because frankly, sir, neither am I," Alfred said, "Keep on as you are, looking at the ceiling every night and then working all day and all the next night, and the next time Batman goes out, he may not come back. You have your precautions, I have mine."

Bruce could understand his friend was only concerned for him, but he didn't think it was Alfred's place to tell him how to handle this. "And suppose," he said in response, "I don't take it?"

"I'll ask you to remember who prepares your food, sir," Alfred answered with a knowing smirk, "The next time you face the Joker, it'll be a hard enough fight as is…don't make it any harder on yourself, or any easier for him to win."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Alfred," was all he had to say.

* * *

Dick felt his head swimming and could hear somebody calling him. He opened his eyes and saw Alfred standing over him, and he saw the sun pouring in his window. Morning already?

"Did I oversleep?" he asked as he sat up.

"Not quite, sir," Alfred replied, "It's almost time for dinner."

"Dinner? But I…" he looked at the clock and saw that it was in fact the correct time, "I thought it was morning. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Fancy that," Alfred said with a slight but knowing smirk on his face, "You haven't been sleeping well these past few nights."

"How did you know?" Dick asked as he stood up.

"Master Dick, in this house, I know everything," he answered and gave a knowing wink of one eye.

The two men headed down the stairs and went into the dining room and Dick saw that the table was missing one setting.

"Where's Bruce?" he asked.

"His is one dinner I'll be warming in the oven tonight," Alfred said, "He got an urgent call and had to go downtown, an appointment I believe he said it was."

* * *

As Bruce walked along the crowded sidewalk, he found he had much trouble keeping his eyes open. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he got any sleep, let alone a full night's worth since this whole mess had started. Making his way past everybody else, he glanced at all the people heading one way or another through the town, and amidst them all he saw something that caught his attention.

It was that girl again! She was making her way through the crowds and out into the streets and carrying as though nothing had happened. This time she gave the impression that wherever she'd been she had been better treated; her clothes weren't a mess and her hair was kempt, and if he hadn't seen her in that hospital bed before, he wouldn't be able to distinguish her from any of the other civilians making their way through town.

"Hey!" he called after her and started over towards her.

The girl looked back and saw him coming for her and she took off running through the streets. Bruce chased after her and the faster she ran to get away from him, the faster he ran to keep up with her. She tried to lose him by taking a detour down the last place Bruce had expected to arrive at; Crime Alley. Bruce watched as she ran into the alley and disappeared, and he started to follow her again but when he came to the entranceway, he was knocked on his back by an explosion.

Bruce had just barely gotten to his feet when he heard the revving of an engine and he jumped out of the way of whatever was about to come through the cloud of smoke. Coming out of Crime Alley at top speed was a purple paddy wagon with two of the Joker's goons in the front; one drove while the other fired off a Thompson gun at the people on the streets, all of whom were running for cover.

The truck swerved to a stop in the middle of the road and the doors on the back opened and more of the Joker's henchmen popped out carrying guns and ordering everybody not to move and to put their hands over their heads. Walking up and down past everybody, they ripped necklaces and rings off the women and ordered the men to hand over their wallets. They came to Bruce and cautiously with one hand he reached into his pocket and extracted his billfold and handed it over. When the man grabbed it, Bruce kicked him and knocked the man's leg out from underneath him and he fell on the pavement. Two others charged at him and he grabbed them and knocked their heads together, rendering them unconscious.

One of the men in purple tossed a grenade into the middle of the street. Everybody ran for cover but when it blew it didn't cause an explosion, rather a release of a purple colored gas. Initial reaction kicked in for several people and they inhaled the gas and almost immediately fell to the ground, but others had the calm of mind to cover their mouths and noses so they wouldn't take it in. Then the men jumped back into the paddy wagon and sped out of there, leaving nothing behind but a cloud of purple smoke and the skid marks on the street. Bruce looked around and ran down the alley and found that the girl had gotten away again. Or rather, she had been taken away again.

* * *

"It doesn't make sense," Gordon said to Bruce a short while later when the police were on the scene, "Jewelry and wallets, the work of a common street punk, not the Joker. His crimes are usually far more complicated than this. And you're sure that it was the same girl?"

Bruce nodded, "I saw her. I called to her and she started running. I ran after her and she went down the alley, then there was the explosion, and the truck came out of the alley and she was nowhere to be seen."

"It's not good, Bruce," Gordon said, "In all this time, nobody has called to report a teenaged girl missing who even resembles her. No family member has come to claim her, we don't have any idea who she is even after all this time."

"And now," Bruce replied, "It seems the Joker's got her in his clutches again."

"Yes, but what on earth for?" was what Gordon, and everybody else on the case, wanted to know.

"Police aren't supposed to take cases personally," he said to Bruce, "But I'm afraid I'm coming very close to doing just that. You know I have a daughter myself, and it keeps me awake at night, thinking of what could happen to her. Thinking that it could be her in this position; and _knowing_ that it's somebody else's daughter he's got his hands on. I don't mind telling you it scares the daylights out of me thinking what's happening to her right now."

* * *

One by one the men stepped up to the Joker and presented their goods collected from the riot in downtown Gotham early that evening. Gold and silver necklaces with emeralds and rubies, wallets with a few hundred bucks in them, gold watches, rings with 100 carat diamonds in them. One by one the Joker took the loot, looked it over, and laughed sinisterly with his approval.

"Good, very good boys," he said as he poured them into a pile, "And now, last but not least. _You_," he said, "Let's see what you've got."

The girl, her face scratched up and her arm bandaged after the scuffle downtown, stepped up to the Joker and held up a large necklace that was covered in diamonds and had to be worth no less than $10,000.

"Very impressive," he said.

She reached into her back pocket and also presented to him, a solid gold ankle bracelet.

"Oooh, a crafty one aren't you?" he remarked as he ogled it as well, "I'm pleased." He looked at her, "Don't have much to say tonight, do you?"

She just shook her head in response.

"Good, now," the Joker turned to his boys and ordered them, "Return the prisoner to the dungeon."

Two of his goons grabbed the girl by either arm and started walking her down the dark corridor. As they descended down the hall, the Joker just sat back and laughed at what was to come next.


	3. Chapter 3

"You have an idea about what the Joker's up to?" Dick asked Bruce when he got home that night.

"I'm not sure…I might…I've been looking over the last few crimes he and his thugs have committed in the city. All minor things, petty thefts…even with the haul he made today it's not enough to satisfy the Joker. His schemes have to be bigger, better, more bizarre than this," Bruce said.

"So what's he up to?" Dick asked.

"He started pulling all this small time stuff when that girl started appearing at the scenes of the crime," Bruce told him.

"Yeah, so?"

"When the police were questioning everybody tonight," Bruce said, "One woman said she could've sworn that the person who stole her jewelry wasn't one of the men, but the girl herself."

Dick's eyes widened in realization, "So the Joker's using her to help in his dirty work."

"It would seem so but that still doesn't explain why none of his more recent crimes have been anything to compare with the ones he built his legacy on. The way I see it, whatever they're up to, he wants to make sure that she's not put in _too_ much danger."

"How come?" Dick wanted to know.

"I quite agree, sir," Alfred remarked, "Under usual circumstances he doesn't seem to be concerned with what happens to the people he takes prisoner."

"That's been bugging me since this whole thing started," Bruce said, "He's using her for something alright…something not excessively dangerous so that he can make sure she survives."

"But what does he want with her?" Dick asked.

Bruce looked at him, "Well you know it would make him a very happy man if he could get rid of the both of us. And what better to draw us in to a potential trap than him holding a hostage?"

It still didn't make sense to Dick, "If he took a hostage, he wouldn't try and hide it, the last time it happened, he broadcasted it on TV for everyone to see…this time not a word's come out about this girl."

"I agree it's highly unusual, but so is the Joker we have to remember," Bruce said, "Whatever this kid is doing, he's putting her up to it, I'll guarantee that. What he wants with her in particular, I think we'll find out in time. There has to be a reason he would choose for his captive, somebody who has no known family and nobody has tried to find in the last few weeks. In the meantime there's still another piece of the puzzle in all this somewhere…but I just can't think of what it is."

* * *

That night as the clock tolled the witching hour, the Joker made his way through the rooms of his current hideout and saw one of his flunkies sitting at the table in the middle of the main room, drawing the outline print of a building in downtown Gotham. The girl sat beside him as he worked and she looked over his shoulder; and when she saw something that didn't seem right, she poked him and ran her finger over it to let him know to undo it.

"What's this? There are laws against letting animals out of the zoo. What's the prisoner doing out of the dungeon?" the Joker demanded to know.

"Needed to get some final details right," the man answered as he continued sketching.

"Well?" the Joker asked.

"Almost done," he replied, then he asked the girl, "And this is where the guards are going to be at 11 in the morning, right?"

She looked the map over and shook her head and pointed at a different place in the prints of a building.

"Kid's got an eagle eye," he told the Joker, "Doesn't miss a thing."

"_Of course_ she doesn't!" the Joker said in response, "That's why I picked her."

The girl, not saying a word, raised her head and glanced over at the freakish looking criminal, who only said to her in reply, "Alright, alright, you did what you came down here for…go back to your cell before I feed you to the hyenas, and no back talk!"

She said nothing and only nodded as she got up from the table and headed for the stairs, making her way back to the room she'd been returned to every night for three months now.

"Just a minute," the Joker said, "Get back down here!"

The girl came back down the stairs and into the room and stood before the Joker.

"Hand it over."

Without a moment's hesitation of playing dumb, the girl pulled out from behind her back, a large mallet. The Joker took it and added, "That's better, now get out of here, you bug me."

With a nod, she turned back around and climbed the stairs again and disappeared onto the next floor for the night.

From behind him, the Joker heard, "How long are we going to be keeping her around, boss?"

"As long as I've use for her," the Joker answered, as he watched her through the corner of one eye, "And these past few months she's proved to be _very_ useful."

"That's for sure…she can go anywhere, nobody recognizes her, nobody tries to follow her…she sees everything that we need to find out to make sure every operation is performed flawlessly. But how did you ever think to pick her for this job?"

"Oh," he said, his permanent grin seeming to turn up at the corners in a sinister way, "I have my ways." His entire facial expression changed into a more somber and serious one, "However…she's not going to remain invisible in public for long. Batman and Robin are already on her trail, that much I know…they've had her picture out for weeks, everybody and his brother's been trying to find her. Pretty soon those two bloodhounds are going to go sniffing too far from home and then…"

The rest really went without saying.

"And how long do you think that's going to take?" the flunky asked.

"If we play our cards right, it shouldn't be too much longer. I know Batman, he can never resist jumping in to save an innocent hostage…" he cackled at that last part of the sentence, then, glancing down at the mallet and fidgeting with it, he grew serious again, "Though I'll say this much," he said as he turned to the other man, "If she's going to be staying here much longer, we may have to look into finding her a playmate." And with that, his infamous laugh spewed out of his throat and filled the rooms in a haunting echo.

* * *

Two more weeks passed without any sign of the Joker or his goons anywhere in the city. Also in those two weeks there had been no further sign of Miss X either. The police were all but ready to give up, and even Batman and Robin were near the end of their ropes on the matter.

"I'm worried, Bruce," Dick said one evening during the second week of inactivity on the Joker's part.

"So am I," Bruce replied.

The trail for this case had run cold a long time ago and there wasn't much currently to keep them on it for much longer; and both were aware of that unnerving fact.

"I can't help thinking that the Joker's done something to her."

"I know."

"What if we never find her?" Dick asked.

"I don't think the Joker would do that…he knows that we're still on the trail, he knows we'll follow…I think he's just laying low until he can figure out his next move," Bruce said.

"Where does he usually hold up when he's out of Arkham?" Dick asked.

"We've already raided those places…there hasn't been anybody living there for months…he's found a new place somewhere…maybe even outside the city."

"Or under it," Dick thought, "You always hear about the criminal _under_world, maybe there's something to the idea."

"The next time he comes out of hiding, we're going to find out where he goes," Bruce said.

"You still think he will?" Dick wanted to know.

"He has to," Bruce said, "It's just like him…he can't stay out of the picture too long…not while one of his plans is still ongoing."

"I hope you're right," Dick replied.

The sun was setting and the outside world was starting to get dark.

"We better get ready," Bruce said, "Looks like this is going to be a long night."

Dick said nothing and merely nodded in agreement and followed after Bruce.

* * *

The first thing Robin became aware of was the pain. Every part of his body hurt…it reminded him of when he was in the circus and lost his grip once and fell straight to the floor of the center ring, missing the net by a good foot and a half. At the time they'd said he was lucky to be alive, and he hadn't felt pain like that since then, until now. He opened one eye, then with some difficulty, the other. He was lying on the ground in a heap; ahead he could see some kind of yellow glow. Despite the pain in his neck he managed to look up ahead and saw he was lying not 20 feet from the fiery remainder of an explosion. Robin had no idea of where they were and he couldn't recall what had happened. Off in a distance he could hear approaching sirens, police, fire, and paramedics it sounded like.

"Batman?" he heard no response and started to worry, "Batman!"

He heard somebody moaning from a few feet away. Pulling himself up, Robin saw Batman also trying to get up and he didn't appear to be in a much better condition.

"Are you alright?" Robin asked.

"I think so, how about you?" Batman replied.

"I'll survive…what happened?" Robin asked, not sure if he remembered what had happened.

"It was the Joker," Batman answered, "I remember…that…" the explosion, "He set off one of his bombs…they got away."

Now Robin could see the red and blue lights coming out of nowhere. It wouldn't be long before they had a hundred people around them, asking questions he wasn't sure they could answer.

"Seems the Joker's working his way back up," Robin said, "First a bunch of petty robberies, now an explosion, I hate to think of what he's got planned next."

"There was a reason for it though," Batman told him, "There's a reason why his latest move was so lethal. Didn't you notice?"

Maybe he'd just hit his head hard when the explosion knocked them to the ground, but he had no memory of the night's events. "No, what?"

"That girl," Batman said.

"What about her?"

"She wasn't here tonight," Batman told Robin, "She wasn't with _them_. I told you, as long as she was in the picture, the Joker didn't pull any heists that were _too_ dangerous, to make sure nothing happened to her."

A look of realization and panic formed on Robin's face, "Then if she wasn't here with them tonight, where is she?"


	4. Chapter 4

The explosion finally died down and the flames were put out; but after that, there was no trace to be found about where the Joker and his goons had disappeared off to. There was once again neither hide nor hair of the Joker or his accomplices, and certainly no sight of the young girl he'd kidnapped. Each passing moment, every dragging hour was excruciating for the police, Batman and Robin, and most of all, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.

The hours drudged on slowly; every passing minute, each hoping to hear some word from the police, some discovery, some break in the case, something. But as the night continued, all was quiet; and that silence was eating at Bruce and Dick, who had returned to Wayne Manor once it was concluded any further search on their parts for the night would be futile considering all the ground they covered.

At first neither said anything about the matter because each was trying to keep their minds off of it. The more they thought about it the more they considered all the horrible possibilities of what the Joker might have done to the girl. Finally, Dick drudged up the thought that had been eating at him all night.

"Do you think he killed her?"

Bruce knew he would have to be careful as to how he would answer that question. Dick already blamed himself for what had happened, no sense pouring salt into those wounds.

"I doubt it," he replied, "He needs her for something, otherwise he wouldn't have kept her involved in his dirty work for as long as he has."

"Well maybe she outlived her use to him," Dick commented, "It's hard to put anything past him."

"I know," Bruce said, "But I still find it hard to believe he would've just killed her. There's a reason he picked her for these jobs, somebody with no known family, who can't be identified. He picked her out for a specific reason, he needs her to stick around for something, I just haven't figured out what yet."

"Well if he didn't kill her," Dick responded, "Then what's going on? Why wasn't she with him last night? Where is she now?"

* * *

The tall blonde woman in the white doctor's suit and coat came out of the dark room carrying her medical bag. She was one of the finest physicians whose services were offered under the table to the members of Gotham City's criminal underworld. She'd seen to the best and treated the worst; the scales weighed more in the latter and she'd had to draw the sheets over a good number of her patients, if nothing else, to spare anybody else from looking at the ghastly details until somebody made an anonymous call the police to pick up the bodies. With this experience under her belt, it was obvious from the look on her face that the news she was about to present wasn't good.

"Well?" the Joker asked.

"Well," she replied in a similar tone, "She's very sick, she has a high temperature that shows no sign of dropping anytime soon. At this point it would be very unwise to move her around much, she must be kept in bed and allowed to rest," she took a package of pills out of her bag, "She'll need to be given these every six hours and the fever should break by tomorrow. If she doesn't show any improvement by tomorrow night, I'll return and examine her again."

The doctor turned to leave and saw two of the Joker's henchmen standing by, glaring at her.

"I can show myself out," she told them, and proceeded to do so.

The Joker, not saying a word to anybody, entered the dark room the girl was kept in and went over to where she was sleeping. She was dead to the world and her whole body was covered in perspiration. The last couple of days everybody had noticed she had begun acting very strange, even by their standards. When she slept for 15 straight hours he knew she wouldn't be in any condition to take out on another job; he needed her alive for what he had planned so he had his boys send for the doctor. However he knew the caped crusaders were watching for his latest appearance and he simply could not disappoint them; he had to show his face in public again. So he had gone out, lured them to a place in the middle of nowhere and set off a bomb. The explosion would have everybody chasing their tails on that one trying to find out the motive for the explosion, the meaning behind that location, and the beauty of it was there was none. It was just what he needed to buy some time until the kid was of use to him again.

Three days the doctor had said, the Joker thought about it, grinning to himself…sounded like enough time to carry out the next part of his plan.

* * *

The next couple of days seem to drag on like somebody had poured molasses into an hour glass. Everybody in Gotham wanted to know where was the mystery girl, and what was the Joker up to?

One afternoon, Bruce found Dick asleep on the couch with the TV turned on to the news. He'd fallen asleep waiting to hear the first word about a break in the case, after staying up for two nights trying to find one. Bruce turned off the television set and sat down, trying to think.

"Sir?" Alfred's voice carried down the hall before he actually appeared in the doorway, "Welcome back, sir."

"Shhh."

Alfred looked in and saw Dick asleep, and he smiled as he stepped into the room, "You won't wake him sir, I saw to that earlier."

Bruce sat back and laughed, "You always think of everything, don't you, Alfred?"

"I try, for the most of it," he replied.

"I don't know what I'm going to do, Alfred."

"Do you really think the girl's still alive?"

"I hope so…I wish I knew what the Joker's plan was."

"Yes, don't we all?"

"And you know if anything _has_ happened to her," Bruce pointed to Dick, "He'll blame himself for it the rest of his life."

"Yes, and we can agree that's the last thing we need," Alfred duly replied.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do," Bruce said, "We've had no luck in finding out where the Joker goes when he pulls one of his disappearing acts."

"Might there be a way of finding out where he's liable to strike next?" Alfred asked, "All these robberies and attacks that have taken place lately, is there any known connection?"

"None that I can figure," Bruce answered, "He's robbing from the rich, the middle class, businesses, individuals, his crime spree is spreading in all directions."

"So this time he's deliberately committing a string of unrelated crimes, but for what reason?"

"To keep us running in circles, try to make us go crazy, and I think it's just about to work too," Bruce said.

"Well sir," Alfred said as he went over to the table and picked up a newspaper, "I've taken it upon myself to do a little investigating of my own accord. While there's no distinctive pattern to be found in all of the recent robberies he's committed, several of them have occurred at public settings for the upper crust of Gotham City."

Bruce took the papers Alfred had and saw that he was right. All the old articles mentioned riots and break-ins at banquets and award dinners and grand openings.

"Hmm, should've guessed."

"And, sir," Alfred told him, "You'll note that there's an upcoming banquet dinner celebrating the more…financially well off people of the city, yourself included."

It took him a minute but Bruce was able to make the connection.

"And when is it?"

"Tomorrow night, sir."

* * *

The promenade room was crowded with the who's who of Gotham City and it seemed everybody and his brother was there. Bruce looked behind him to see if anything looked amiss yet, and then looked back to Dick who sat at the opposite end of the table, pulling at his collar.

"If it weren't for the chance the Joker might make a guest appearance," Dick told him, "I wouldn't have come, I don't feel up to it."

Yes, that much, Bruce could tell. He didn't know if Dick had gotten wise to Alfred putting sleeping pills into the food or not, but he knew that Dick had spent a better part of the night before, and all of that day, awake, and a nervous wreck.

A man came up to the table and told Bruce that there was a phone call for him. He got up from the table and went over to the phone. "Hello?"

"Sir," it was Alfred calling from the car, "I just thought you might like to know, several men have just sneaked in through the back way. They were in the shadows so I couldn't tell what they looked like or what it was they had with them, but they struck me as appearing mighty suspicious."

"Could you tell if _she_ was with them?" Bruce asked.

"Afraid not, sir."

"Okay, thank you," Bruce hung up the phone and headed back to the promenade room.

Dick was on the verge of falling asleep when Bruce came back to the table and said to him, "Alfred saw some people making an unexpected entrance through the back way, we'd better get ready."

"Right."

Dick got up and followed Bruce out of the room.

A few minutes later, the main entrance doors were busted open and a purplish smoke filled the room. Everybody screamed and started to get up from their seats. As they did, several goons in purple trench coats carrying Tommy guns entered the room and started ordering everybody to back up near the walls and hand over anything valuable they had on them, and nobody would get hurt.

Nervously, everybody obliged, men handed over their wallets and their watches, women handed over their necklaces and earrings. Oddly enough, of all the people holding up the room, the Joker wasn't among them, in fact, he was nowhere to be seen.

A moment later, Batman and Robin burst into the room and immediately set into acting of restoring the peace. Batman grabbed two of the thugs and bashed their heads together, knocking them out, Robin tripped another one and in turn took down four of them like a set of bowling pins. Then he grabbed the arms one who had snatched the diamond necklace off a woman's neck and knocked him against the wall before telling him, "Give the lady back her jewelry."

In a mere matter of minutes, most of the gang was down for the count but a couple remaining goons tried to make a break for it. One of them tried firing the machine gun but it jammed after a couple of bullets let loose. Batman clocked him and he fell to the floor, and Robin took after the last one who had escaped from the room.

Robin took off through the dark hallway, down the stairs to the first floor and out the back way, into the alley behind the building. Looking around, he saw no people and no cars; he tried to find the guy who had just ran through here, but couldn't find him. As he stopped and tried to figure out what had happened, somebody reached out and pinned him against the wall. As he tried to pull the hands off of him that held him there, he felt something press against his face and he heard a sound that sounded strangely familiar. He realized with great horror that whoever was in the alley with him, was forcing a batch of the Joker's nerve gas into his system. Robin tried not to breathe it in but it didn't seem to matter. He struggled with the strong man who kept him pressed against the wall; but slowly he could feel his strength leaving him. His head was starting to throb and everything was starting to look weird. Certain things he could make out in the darkness seemed to jump out at him like a 3D picture. Every muscle and bone in his body was thriving with pain and he soon fell to the ground, unable to get up, hardly able to move.

That wasn't the worst part of it though. He didn't see the things that were before him now. Instead he saw the memories that had been buried in his mind for years. He watched helplessly as his parents died; and he watched it through the eyes of the confused, scared, furious and vulnerable kid he had been when it happened, instead of the young adult he was now. It was like going through a time warp back to that exact moment and reliving the tragedy exactly as it occurred all over again. He screamed, he pounded his fists against the floor, he tried to move but he could not. Now he didn't know where he was or what was going on, what was real and what was not, it all merged together and he didn't know how to get out of it.

He was oblivious to the two men grabbing him and jerking him to his feet. One man reached down and removed Robin's utility belt and tossed it aside and they got him out of there before there were any witnesses to what had happened. Robin himself, was not aware of what happened because he was trapped somewhere between the past and the present, between reality and a nightmare, and he couldn't find a way to the end of it.


	5. Chapter 5

"You didn't see anybody come back out that way?" Batman asked Alfred when he managed to get away from the police and the reporters.

"I'm afraid not, sir," Alfred replied, "Through the upper windows I saw what was going on and assumed they would try and escape through the front, so I went around there incase anybody managed to slip away."

"Nobody else saw what happened to Robin either after he left the promenade room," Batman said, "It doesn't make any sense, he wouldn't just take off like this."

"Batman," Commissioner Gordon called to him.

Batman looked back at the commissioner, then back to Alfred and said, "Thank you for your information, sir." He went over to Gordon, "What is it?"

"Bad news, you'd better brace yourself, we found something."

They went over to the back alley and one of the officers held up something he'd found in a garbage can, and Batman's heart skipped a beat. It was Robin's utility belt. That answered one question, Robin obviously _hadn't_ just taken off after the Joker's flunky, somebody had taken _him_.

"I'm terribly sorry about what happened, Batman," Gordon said, "We'll do everything we can to find him, unfortunately you know we haven't had much luck in tracking where the Joker, or any of his men go."

"Maybe not, but," Batman turned to the dozen or so goons in purple who were handcuffed and being shoved into police cars, "Maybe we can get some answers out of the ones that remain."

He sincerely hoped that they found out soon what had happened to Robin, and he hoped that Robin was alright.

* * *

Robin put up no struggle as the two men dragged him along the dark corridor. He had been reduced to a shell of what he used to be; his body suffered from physical pain unimaginable while his mind suffered from the memories he had long ago hoped to bury. He couldn't speak, he could hardly even breathe, the only sounds he was capable of making at this point were gut wrenching sobs as he was led to the door at the end of the hall.

One of the men undid the locks on the front side of the door and pushed it open. The next room was about as dark as the corridor they'd dragged Robin down. They stepped into the room and threw Robin to the floor and quickly backed out the door, locking it behind him.

Robin stay where he collapsed on the floor and continued to cry. He didn't know what had happened. He didn't know where he was. All he did know was this horrible, raw, terrible pain that seemed to be eating him alive.

The noise he made seemed to awaken the other occupant of the room. The girl who was the root of all this trouble, awoke when she heard the sobs and at first she thought it was something from a dream. Then when the noise continued, she looked over toward the door and saw a boy huddled on the floor in the middle of the room.

"Boy," she said as she slowly drew back the covers and swung her feet around, "Why're you crying?"

He didn't seem to hear her, so she went over to him and turned him over. At this point he seemed to have about worn himself out to the point of unconsciousness. He looked at her but she wasn't sure he actually saw her. He closed his eyes and laid his head against the floor and seemed to be asleep.

The girl grabbed Robin and dragged him over toward the bed, picked him up and laid him down on it, he didn't move. Curiosity got the better of her and she decided to see just what lay behind that black mask; so she pulled it off and saw who it was. She said nothing, did absolutely nothing for about a minute, just stood there and thought. An idea came to her and she started to work in removing the rest of his outfit as well.

* * *

The Joker's eyes were bloodshot and he felt about ready to drop when he returned. It was after 2 in the morning and he'd come back from a trip that took him clear to the edge of Gotham and back.

"How did things go, boss?"

"It was more trouble than it was worth…however," his notorious grin spread on his face again, "This next explosion is certainly going to have Batman chasing his tail."

"You can say that again," one of the men replied.

The Joker didn't get it. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded to know.

"While you were gone, we thought we'd do you a favor."

"Already I don't like what I'm hearing," the Joker said, "What did you bunch of jackanapes do?"

"Remember when you said we might have to find a playmate for the girl?"

"Well we found her one," another flunky explained, laughing, "The perfect one, Robin."

The Joker didn't look amused. "Even _I_ don't find that one funny."

"It's no joke, he's up in the dungeon with her."

"You _really_ expect me to believe that a bunch of blundering buffoons like you managed to catch Robin?"

"He's in there now."

"This I've got to see for myself."

The Joker ascended up the stairs with his henchmen following closely behind him. He strode down the long, dark hallway and came to the door of the room the girl was being held in. Unlocking it, he entered the room while the others stayed outside and he immediately, just narrowly avoided tripping over something that his foot met with. Looking down he saw the girl lying in the middle of the floor with a pillow and a blanket. He nudged her with his foot and woke her up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"What're you doing down there?" the Joker wanted to know.

"Shhh," she said as she laid back down, "I have a guest," and she pointed to the bed.

The Joker stepped over her and went over to the bed and saw somebody in it lying on the side with their back to him. He grabbed the person in the bed and turned it over and saw what seemed to be a partially grown boy wearing a set of blue pajamas. Joker looked back over to the girl and asked regarding the boy, "How did _he_ get in here?"

She pointed to the men outside in the hall, "They brought him in."

"I see," Joker pushed the sleeping boy back onto his side and stepped over the girl and told her, "Go back to sleep, you're dreaming," and headed out the door, locking it behind him.

"You idiots!" he said, "That kid in there is no more Robin than _I_ am! How could you be so _stupid_?"

"But we _did_ get him!"

"Oh don't give me that!" Joker replied, "And don't give me any of your excuses, we're stuck with him for the time being."

Two of the men looked at each other, and one of them said, "I don't get it…but if that's not Robin, who is it?"

"I don't know…however, _she_ seems to have gotten attached to him already so I suppose we'll be having to keep him around for a while," Joker decided, "Well Batman is certainly going to be coming up clueless on this one; an explosion on one side of town, a hold up on the other side, both at the same time, and a kidnapping somewhere in the middle of it all. I don't even get it and I'm part of it. Wait a minute, where are the others?" he asked as he noticed several of the gang were absent.

"That's the bad news, Batman got them."

The Joker started to growl and commented, "Well this has certainly been a perfectly execrable evening." Tempted though he was to comment that things couldn't possibly get any worse, he knew better than to say it because it would find a way if he did.

* * *

When Dick woke up he was still a bit disoriented and wasn't quite sure what had happened. He could see the afternoon sunlight shining in a bit through the windows.

"Bruce?" he said, he heard no response.

He opened his eyes and saw he was in a place he didn't recognize. The room itself was dark and he still couldn't make out most of what was in it; frantically he tried to recall the previous night's events. Slowly it came back to him up to the point that he was gassed, but everything that happened after that was a blur, like a bad dream.

With a heavy breath, he fell back against the pillow, and turned his head to the side and saw the girl they'd been chasing after this whole time, dressed in blue pajamas, sitting on the floor with a pencil and a pad of paper drawing something, seeming oblivious to her surroundings.

The girl looked up and saw he was awake. "Hi," she said. She sat up on her knees and folded her arms on the side of the bed and looked up at him, "How're you feeling?"

Dick was trying to figure out what she was saying when he looked down and saw that his Robin uniform was gone, and instead he was wearing a set of pajamas like her own.

"What's going on here?" he asked, "Where are we?"

"This is my room," she answered.

"Your room? You mean you stay in this place?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Who…who keeps you here?"

"The men do."

"What men?" he asked.

"Joker and his men…Luca and Harvey brought you in last night and left you here with me."

"The Joker?" Dick repeated, "Then it's true, he did kidnap you?"

"He did?" she asked.

Dick realized the girl wasn't too reliable for straight answers, an old head injury, and what must've been amnesia. But he knew that she would answer his questions as honestly as she could.

"Do you remember me?" he asked.

"Do you remember me?" she asked, and he could tell by the tone in her voice that she wasn't just repeating him, she genuinely wanted to know.

"How long have you been staying here?" Dick asked.

"Quite a while," she replied.

"Why?" Dick wanted to know, "Why did he bring you here?"

She shrugged her shoulders and just said, "He needs me for something."

"That's why you've been showing up everywhere he does, isn't it? That's why you helped him steal from those people."

The girl turned quickly and looked to the door. She grabbed the covers and drew them up on Dick and said, "Go to sleep, they're coming."

Dick turned on his side and closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. He heard the locks come off the door and he heard it creak open, and a man stepped in.

"Who're you talking to, Jax?"

Dick tried to identify the voice, but he couldn't, obviously it wasn't the Joker.

"Myself," she answered, "I always talk to myself, that way I get all the smart answers, not like talking to you."

Dick could hear the man grumble something in response but it was incoherent.

"Are we going somewhere today?" the girl asked.

"No, Jax," he replied, "But the Joker says that in a couple days you're going to make one last, _big_ appearance."

"Okay," she said.

The door closed and Dick heard the locks being bolted back into place. He sat up and looked at the girl, she waited until the footsteps disappeared and she said to Dick, "They think I'm _real_ stupid…but I'm a lot smarter than they all think…"

Dick nodded, he could humor her for the time being.

"What did he mean by that?" he asked, "About a big appearance?"

"I don't know," she replied.

"Well, why did that guy call you Jax?"

She tried to think, "Maybe I remind him of them."

"What?"

"The metal jacks, you know how they hurt when they poke your skin? Maybe that's what I remind them of."

Dick tried to sit forward but he felt woozy again and fell back. "What happened last night?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "All I know is that they brought you in late last night and you were crying, I asked what was wrong but you didn't answer me…you fell asleep after that."

Another thought came to his mind, "Does the Joker know I'm here?"

"Oh yes, he came in late too, about an hour after I got you put to bed."

Now Dick was worried that his cover might be blown.

"What happened to the clothes I was wearing last night?" he asked as he sat up again.

The girl slowly seemed to show some recognition about what he was saying, and she explained, "I undressed you for bed and put you in my pajamas."

"Was anybody else here when it happened?"

"Certainly not, that would've just been rude."

"And where are my clothes now?"

"Someplace safe."

And just what was that supposed to mean? But before he could ask her that, he became lightheaded again and fell back against the pillows, and everything was starting to blur.

"It's strong stuff they use," she told Dick, "You better go back to sleep now."

Dick fought to stay awake for a few more minutes. He had a horrible idea he knew what that man had meant by 'one last big appearance'. It seemed his worst suspicions would soon come true and she would be killed as soon as she outlived her usefulness to the Joker. He had to get them out of there and find a way to contact Batman, but how?

"I don't know what's going on," he told her, "I'm not sure how, but I'll figure a way to get us out of here..." he reached over and grabbed her hand, "Stay with me and I'll protect you."

"You'll protect me?" she asked and then giggled, "Very well, but who's going to protect _you_?"


	6. Chapter 6

When Dick woke up again, night had fallen and the room was almost completely dark.

"Are you still here?" he whispered.

"Who?" the girl asked loudly, which about made him hit the ceiling.

"Before I went to sleep," he said, "You said something was strong stuff…what was?"

"The nerve gas they gave you," the girl answered.

"Nerve gas?" Dick asked.

"Yes, that's what they gave to you so you couldn't attack them," she said, "I've seen what it does to people. One time this man tried to jump me, but Joker pulled him off me and stuck an inhaler in his mouth filled with the stuff…" she shook her head grimly, "_Very_ strong stuff."

"Has he ever used it on you?" he wanted to know.

She shook her head, "No."

Dick pushed the covers back and tried to stand up. He pointed over the door, "Any way we can get out through there?"

The girl shook her head again, "They've got cameras out there, none in here though."

"What about the windows?" Dick asked.

She shook her head still.

"Oh, you've already tried, eh?"

"You can't break out from this place," she explained, "There is no escape, and they don't like you trying."

"I'll figure something out, some way to get us out of here," Dick told her, "Trust me."

"Trust is easy for me, they say that's my problem," she replied, "I trust too much and look where it gets me…but I've no choice…I don't know…who I am…I don't know where I am, and he…"

Dick didn't want to hear the rest of it. He put his arm around the girl and told her he'd figure some way to get them out of wherever it was they currently were. All the while, he wondered himself exactly how he was going to do that. He'd lost all contact with the outside world and he didn't even know where they were, if they were even still in Gotham City.

"I'm glad they brought you here," she said as she put her arms around him, "Usually I don't have anybody to talk to and it can get lonely around here."

"I don't know how we're going to get out of this," he told her, "But there's got to be some way to get out of here and get to the police and I'm going to figure out how. Try not to worry."

"Worry?" she laughed, "What have I got to worry about?"

Dick hated to think of the possibilities.

Two hours had passed. The girl lay on the floor peacefully sleeping, not seeming to have a care in the world. How she could come to tolerate these conditions they forced her to live in blew Dick's mind. He hadn't gone to sleep that night; he just lay in bed looking around the room trying to think of some way they could escape. The moonlight shone in through the window that night. Dick got up and looked out the window and he saw that wherever they were, it was right on the waterfront. Right outside the window, the ground was sand, and about fifteen or twenty feet away was the water.

Unfortunately he knew that still didn't help them because exactly _what_ waterfront was it? Was it in Gotham or was it in upper New York State or were they in Jersey? And how could he find out?

A chill blew in through a crack in the window and the room was bombarded with cold air. Dick reached down to the floor and grabbed the girl's arm and he pulled her up into the bed and drew the covers up on both of them. Since the night he was brought in, she always stayed on the floor leaving him with the whole bed. He wasn't sure what would happen if the two of them were to be found in the current position they were in but he had an idea it wouldn't be good.

He looked over at the girl who had buried her hands under the pillow and was dead to the world. Nobody knew who she was, where she came from, or what had happened to her. But it was because of her that he was in the predicament he was in at this time. Dick knew that he had to figure a way to get them out of there and get in touch with Bruce before the day after tomorrow, but how?

* * *

The clock on the nightstand showed that it was almost two in the morning. Alfred padded down the hallway floor and found Bruce standing in the doorway to Dick's room, staring in at the unoccupied area.

"Sir," he said as he came up behind Bruce, "It's late."

"I know, Alfred, I know."

This was the exact same thing Bruce had done the night before when he'd returned home after searching half the town and finding no trace of Robin or Dick Grayson anywhere. He stayed up, paced the halls, continued looking into Dick's bedroom as though he expected the young man to appear inside.

"You're not doing anybody any favors by staying up the night worrying," Alfred told him.

"I know, I just can't help but think…if I had just gone after him, if I hadn't let him take off by himself…"

"Sir, you know what they say about hindsight," Alfred said as he went with Bruce back to his own room, "How many times before have the two of you gone out, and gone in separate ways and both came back unharmed?"

"I know…I know…but I can't help thinking it's my fault he was kidnapped."

"Master Dick is hardly a child anymore, he can and _has_ before, looked after himself."

"Which is why I'm hoping that he's alright," Bruce replied as he settled on the bed again, "Wherever he is."

"You taught him well, sir," Alfred told him, "If anyone knows how to survive, I imagine it is he."

"I hate to think what he must be going through."

* * *

"Do you remember anything from before the Joker found you?" Dick asked the girl the next day.

She had to stop and think about it.

"Yes, I think so," she said.

"What?"

"I'm not sure."

Dick shook his head, he wasn't getting anywhere with her. He'd tried to get some answers out of her that might give him an idea about who she was, where she came from, anything. But anytime he asked her anything, he couldn't set a straight answer out of her.

The girl took some drawings on the floor that she'd made and tore them up and put them in a garbage bag. She tied the bag shut and went to the door, opened it and looked out, seeing nobody. She turned back to Dick and told him she'd be back momentarily, then she stepped out into the hall and headed over to the stairs, but Luca spotted her.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

She turned and saw him and held up the big bag and answered, "I'm taking this out to the trash."

"Oh no you're not," he told her, "You remember what the boss told you, you're not going anywhere."

"But I have to take it out," she said.

"Oh no you're not," he said.

"Oh yes I am," she replied.

"What's going on here?" the Joker asked as he came up the stairs and found the two of them squabbling.

The girl held up the bag and said, "I was telling Luca this trash needs to go out."

"Well what're you waiting for?" the Joker asked him, "Take that trash and get out of here."

"You heard him," the girl added, "Take that trash and get out of here."

"But boss…"

"Shut up, take that trash and get out of here!" the Joker told him.

After Luca had disappeared with the bag, the Joker turned to the girl and said, "Well now, what do you think of your new playmate?"

"Oh I like him, he's a lot of fun," she said, "He doesn't say much but he's good company."

"That's good; I was hoping to find you somebody that could keep your mind occupied for the time being."

"Joker," she said, "When are we going to go out again?"

"Very soon, kid," he explained.

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow night…it's going to be the biggest appearance we've made yet."

"Good," she said, appearing quite satisfied at his answer.

* * *

Dick spent the entire afternoon inspecting every square inch of the room, trying to think of some way he and the girl could escape and go for help; but he kept coming up empty. They couldn't get out through the window, and there were cameras outside to monitor who came into the hall and no doubt there was somebody to watch the cameras at all times. And on top of it all, being locked in one room for two days was beginning to make him stir crazy.

The girl meanwhile couldn't have cared less if they got out of there or not. She just sat on the floor and continued scribbling on a drawing pad while Dick paced around the room looking for a way out.

"I don't get it," Dick said, "What does the Joker want with you? And why did he bring you here of all places? And why am I here now?"

The girl grabbed hold of his pant leg and jerked on it a couple times to get his attention. He leaned down to see what she wanted. She put her hand on his forehead to smooth back his hair and sketched a close likeness of him into her drawing.

"You don't have any idea what's going on, do you?" Dick asked.

She shook her head, "I haven't…I can't remember things too well and I have trouble figuring out things going on in the present time as well."

"I'll admit," he said as he sat on the floor across from her, "I don't understand much of what's going on either…but I do know that we have to get out of here and soon."

The day passed and turned into night and Dick found himself right back where he started; very confused and with absolutely no idea on how they were going to escape.

Dick had no recollection of falling asleep but he must've because the next thing he knew, he shot up in bed when he heard a loud noise. The room was dark and so was the outside; first he heard the rain then he saw the lighting and then he heard the grumbling of thunder.

Great, he thought, a storm, that was all they needed to top off everything else. He looked around the room and saw that the girl was on the floor, but not asleep in the middle of it like she had spent the other night. Now she sat against the wall over by the door and seemed to be watching, waiting for something.

"What's going on?" he quietly asked.

A few minutes passed and the only sound that could be heard was from the storm. Then, Dick heard something else, he couldn't identify it but it sounded like something exploded. The girl jumped to her feet, ran over to the bed and started to jerk him onto his feet.

"Come on," she said.

"What's going on?" he asked.

They went over to the door, before the girl opened it she told him, "The power's out, the cameras are off, the alarms don't work, we're busting out of here."

She opened the door and had him follow her as they ran the opposite direction from the stairs and went down a long corridor. Off in the distance Dick could hear the voices of several men squabbling, completely incoherent, and he suspected the Joker was among them.

The girl turned to a door, pushed it open and Dick followed her, blind as a bat down a dark stairwell. At the bottom there was another door that took more force to open, and the two ran out into the night, and into the pouring down rain. The girl pulled Dick over to a large pile of crates and boards and large garbage barrels; she pulled the top bag out of one drum and they ducked down behind the junk as she tore the bag open and took out his Robin uniform.

"I have an idea you're going to need this," she told Dick.

"Is there any way we can contact the police from here?" he asked her as he suited up.

The girl pointed over to a pier, when lightning struck again and lit everything up, Robin was able to see an emergency telephone off near the dock. They ran towards it and Robin dialed the Gotham City Police Department.

"Commissioner Gordon? It's Robin…yes, I'm fine, look…I found the girl, the Joker's been hiding her out at this place near…" he looked and was able to make out a sign that told him where they were, "Pier 13 on the waterfront. Get in touch with Batman immediately, tell him where we are, the Joker and his men have something big planned, I don't know what but once they find out that we've escaped they're going to come looking for us. Okay."

He hung up the phone, turned to the girl and said to her, "You had this whole thing planned out, didn't you?"

She had a knowing look on her face…not _quite_ like the cat that swallowed the canary but it told Robin that this was one time when she did know more than she had admitted to.

"My problem is I trust too easily, and too much…so did the Joker…I figured out how to get out, but it wouldn't work unless the system was shut off. How long will it take the police to get here?"

"I don't know," Robin replied, "But you can be sure however long it takes them, Batman will beat them here by a good ten minutes."

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"What are the odds they'll come out this way looking for us?" Robin asked.

"Well the Joker knows I wouldn't try getting out through the front, it's too risky because that's the side they're always on," she explained.

"In other words they'll probably be here soon," he said.

Robin quickly scanned the area and realized the only place they would stay out of the open was right where they currently were.

"Stay down," Robin told her, "Don't make a sound, if they come this way, don't try and run unless I tell you to."

The girl crouched down where she was and just nodded. They waited, nervously, anxiously.

Neither heard the door open or anybody come out but from out of nowhere, one of the Joker's goons came around the corner and grabbed the girl. Robin jumped him and put him in a sleeper hold until the man started to lose consciousness. The girl found a long tight cord in one of the trash drums and they tied him up with it.

"When they don't hear back from him, they're going to get suspicious and come looking for him," Robin told her, "I'll go see what I can do about the others, you stay here and if you see anybody, scream and I'll come running."

"Okay," the girl said.

Robin wasn't sure about leaving the girl by herself but he didn't want to risk taking her with him either; they would easily be outnumbered and any one of the Joker's flunkies could grab her up, at least this way for the time being she was where they wouldn't get to her.

What Robin didn't see as he walked away was the girl reach into the man's breast pocket on his jacket and pull out a gun.

* * *

As Robin made his way around the large, seemingly abandoned building, ever cautious, ever vigilant, looking at every turning point to see if somebody was behind him, he heard a strange noise coming from around the corner that sounded like somebody being knocked out. He looked and despite the dark and rain he was able to see another goon fall to the ground, and standing over him was…

"Batman! I knew you'd get here first."

"Are you alright?" he asked, "Where's the girl?"

"I'll show you…we've got to get her out of here before the Joker finds her."

The explosion that occurred before Robin could get the last word out nearly deafened both men and knocked them to the ground. As they got back up they saw the Joker walk through the smoke and flames of one of his own bombs, and in his hand he held a large gun that was already smoking.

"It's a little late for that, bird brains," he said.

"What have you done to her?" Batman demanded to know.

"Oh I wouldn't worry so much about that, batty, instead I'd be much more concerned about your own wellbeing if I were you," the Joker replied as he aimed the gun at him, "Goodbye, Bat, it's been real, but it's all gonna end somewhere."

They heard the shot ring out and they heard a horrible scream, but the bullet that was fired was not from the Joker's own gun; and in fact it had come from right behind him, the bullet tearing through his wrist and he fell down from the shock of it. Standing behind the Joker was the girl with the weapon in question in her own hand, and a look on her face that didn't confirm that she knew what had just happened, but the caped crusaders could tell she was content with the results.

"Are you alright?" Batman asked her.

She blinked a couple of times but otherwise didn't move and she didn't speak. Then she let go of the gun and let it fall in the sand and she answered, "Yeah…I'm alright, let's go."

She turned around and as she started to walk away, the Joker called to her, "Hey Jax!" and she had barely turned around when his gun went off and the bullet came at her. She fell backwards and hit the ground. Batman restrained the Joker and Robin rushed over to the girl to see if she had been shot. Off in the distance they could hear the roar of several police sirens and knew that regardless of what happened now, it was all over.

* * *

The bullet from the Joker's gun had just missed hitting the girl but regardless, she spent the next two days lying in a hospital bed unconscious while the Joker was returned to Arkham. Batman and Robin scarcely left her alone, waiting for the moment when she would awaken, and hopefully remember something. The doctors had run tests and found no additional damage to the old injuries she had already sustained, for which everybody was thankful for.

Commissioner Gordon paid the dynamic duo a visit at the hospital after the remaining criminals had been processed and put behind bars once again. While a doctor saw to the girl, the three men met in the hallway and discussed what had happened.

"We can't get a word out of anybody about what the whole thing was about, what the Joker's motive was this time," he said.

"We don't need their word on it, his plan was to draw us in to try and save the girl, and in the process he planned to kill us when we entered his territory," Batman said, "No matter what he did he knew our main concern was with getting her away from him, he knew we'd come looking."

There was a sudden outburst from inside the girl's hospital room and Commissioner Gordon, Batman and Robin went in to see what had happened. The girl had awoken and was screaming at the doctor and trying to push him away from her bedside.

"What happened?" Batman asked.

The girl sat up in the bed and said, "This fool who calls himself a doctor wants to examine me. There's nothing the matter with me."

Gone was the girl's naïve, absentminded state of mind and had been replaced by an unenthusiastic and somewhat terrified one. Her anger was drawn out by her confusion and her fear; something that neither of the Caped Crusaders had seen of her in all the past times they had watched her.

"Get me out of this place, there's nothing wrong with me," she said.

Batman and Robin went over to her bedside and Robin asked her, "Do you remember us?"

She looked up and snapped at them, "What kind of a fruity question is that? Sure I know who you are," she pointed at Batman, "You're Batman," then to Robin, "And you're Robin, and that over there is Commissioner Gordon. Now will somebody be so kind as to explain to me _what_ I am doing in a hospital?"

"You mean you don't remember the Joker?" Commissioner Gordon asked.

"The Joker? What's he got to do with this? What's going on? I…" she stopped when she realized what they were talking about and her eyes widened, and her tone softened, slightly, as she laid back against the pillows, as though she'd been hit with something, "The Joker…I remember…he…he got me out of that place…and told me I was going to help him."

"What place?" they wanted to know.

"I was in…a mental hospital…" she looked around the room, "But this isn't that place…"

"Why were you in the mental hospital?" Robin asked.

"I…I remember falling down and hitting my head hard…and I don't remember much after that…but I remember them saying I had some kind of damage…and they locked me away in there…and he broke me out."

"The Joker?"

She nodded, "He said that he wouldn't take me back there, as long as I did what he said…and he took me out to the waterfront…and he told me I was going to help him…I was going to help him…I was in no state of mind to tell him I wouldn't…oh my God, all those people I helped him steal from…"

"Don't worry about that now," Batman told her, "It's over…what hospital were you in?"

"I don't know," she said, "I didn't want to be there but they said they couldn't…couldn't find any family…I have no family…none that I know of anyway."

"We'll look into that," Batman said, "Can you tell us your name?"

"My name? Yes, of course I can tell you that," she said, "Why shouldn't I?"

There was one thing Robin wanted to know first. He pulled back the sheet near the bottom of the bed and asked her, "Those initials on your foot, J.N. do you know what they stand for?"

The girl leaned down to look at her foot as though only now realizing that she wore the tattoo. She looked back up at Robin, and at Batman and answered, "Of course I know what that means…those are _my_ initials. J.N., that stands for my name, Jacqueline Napier."

Batman's eyes widened, only slightly, when he heard the name and he repeated, "Jacqueline _Napier_?"


	7. Chapter 7

As the Joker was getting 'settled in' for a night back at Arkham, dressed in the inmate's uniform but without the typical strait-jacket, he looked at the door on the other side of the room and saw the guards opening the cell to let in Batman and Robin.

"Just what I don't need to see when I'm heavily sedated," he grumbled as the guards left the room, "What're you doing here, bat brains? Come to gloat some more about recapturing me? You know I'll get out again, it's only a matter of time. There never was an asylum built to hold me indefinitely."

"There'll be another time for that, Joker," Batman replied, "We're not here to talk about that."

"No? Then what?"

"The girl."

The Joker feigned an innocent smirk and said, "What about her? You got her back, she's alive."

"How did you find out what hospital she was being kept in to break her out?" Robin asked.

"I have my ways," was his only answer, "You have your detective skills, I have my own."

"I'm sure you do," Batman replied, not amused, "What did you need her for? Why her specifically? There are hundreds of innocents you could've snatched up to lure us in, why her in particular?"

The drugs were starting to take effect but not enough that the Joker could completely black out from this conversation. He looked at Batman, then to Robin, and back at Batman and said, "Plenty available but only one who could do the job right. She has no name, no identity, nobody would notice her, nobody would pay her any mind, just what I needed to be a lookout."

"And then an accomplice in the robberies."

The Joker shrugged his shoulders, "She has a gift, what kind of man would I be to refuse her usage of it?"

"What kind of man are you to kidnap a sick girl and hold her prisoner so she complies with your orders?" Batman responded.

The Joker laughed, "You should've seen the brat when she was first brought in…crying like a baby, eyes wide with terror…soon enough she learned."

"You make me sick," Robin said, obviously disgusted.

The Joker glanced at him and said with an evil smirk, "Good, mission accomplished."

"We're not here to talk about that, Joker," Batman said.

"No? Well I do wish you would get to the point and get it over with," Joker replied, "These visits of yours, I find to be extremely boring."

"You know, _Jack_," Batman said, "The police and I must've been over all the paperwork found on you a hundred times…I thought we knew every detail about your life there was to be found…but when you were reprocessed a few days ago, we found something new…something that had been buried for a long time."

"Oh really?" Joker asked, "What's that?"

"A very old report which noted a brief marriage which occurred in Nevada roughly 18 years ago which involved a young woman named Nancy Kennedy."

The Joker's gaze traveled over towards a wall as he asked defiantly, "So what?"

"Nice looking lady," Batman held out an old newspaper photo of the woman in question, it had yellowed with age and blurred her features, but her overall appearance was still razor sharp to the eye.

"Ehh," the Joker sneered as though he could care less.

"Nancy was 20 years old when she gave birth to a child…the child was a girl, six pounds, seven ounces, named Jacqueline. Rather narcissistic on your part, Joker, giving the world another _Jack_ Napier."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, "I have no daughter, I had no wife."

"You were using an alias back then, a name which matches the name to the man who married Nancy Kennedy, with the same birth date, blood type, height, weight, hair and eye color, and home background as you had at the same time," Robin added.

"I couldn't see it at the time, but," Batman pulled out a newer picture, one of Jacqueline, revealing how she looked after being returned to the hospital, cleaned up, coherent, looking like a normal person again, "There is a good resemblance…both to her mother, who died several years ago, and to you before you became the Joker."

Through the corner of his eye the Joker saw the picture and he seemed to lose it. "Get that thing away from me and get out of my cell and leave me alone, bat brains; I have no idea what you're talking about and I DON'T HAVE A DAUGHTER!"

"Whatever you say, Jack," Batman calmly replied.

A guard opened the door and Robin left the room first, Batman stayed behind a moment and left the picture of Jacqueline on the table.

"She remembers you, Jack," Batman said as he turned to leave the room, "She knows."

The Joker faced the opposite wall until he heard the cell door close and everybody leave. Once it was silent again, he reached behind to the table and picked up the picture left behind and looked at it.

* * *

"We found out where Jacqueline was hospitalized after sustaining a head injury four years ago," Commissioner Gordon told Batman and Robin as they headed back to the hospital, "She fell and hit her head against the pavement when she was 13 years old, a few months after her mother died. She was found but couldn't be identified so she was hospitalized as a juvenile Jane Doe and it was then and there she was found to be suffering from minor brain damage. Somebody wasn't paying close enough attention and she got out…and she got mixed up with several other teenagers who were taken in on robbery charges for mugging some people. She was just passing by the middle of it all and somehow walked away carrying a woman's purse. Again, somebody wasn't paying attention and she was locked up with the rest of them, then when they realized something wasn't right with her, they moved her to a juvenile mental health center. That's where the Joker broke her out of but up till now, nobody's figured out how. The only thing we can think of is that he had two of his men go in dressed like the doctors and they sneaked her out and took her out to his hiding spot near the water."

"The damage she suffered wasn't _that_ serious however, it seemed to come and go," Batman realized, "Near the end she started to regain her own mind and she didn't just operate accordingly to what the Joker said, that's how she knew to plan their escape, also how she knew to shoot him. He realized that she was becoming too smart for him to control anymore and he tried to get her out of the way. He didn't aim for her when he fired that gun, but he figured when she dodged the bullet, she'd hit her head against the ground again and wind up in a coma, or with further damage so she wouldn't remember anything."

Robin looked out the car window and realized, "This isn't the way back to the hospital."

"I got a call while you were visiting with the Joker; our boys raided his hideout and found something of interest. They said we'd want to see it as soon as possible as it's in connection to the _why_ and _how_ of Jacqueline going along with the Joker's plans."

They returned to the police station and were taken to a room where several of the police had been working on enhancing the audio and visual of the surveillance tapes recovered from the cameras.

"This is from the night it all started," one of the officers said, "When the Joker kidnapped the girl, this is when he first brought her in."

They watched on the black and white video as the Joker came in an entranceway with the girl, pushing her ahead of him. She had her hands tied behind her back and a pillowcase had been tied over her head, the Joker removed the restraints and grabbed her by her jacket so she had to look up and face him.

_"You know who I am?"_ he asked her.

She looked at him as though she'd been asked a trick question and slowly nodded. _"The Joker."_

That wasn't the answer he wanted.

_"You know who I am?"_ he asked again.

Jacqueline shook her head. The Joker said something to her that was too low for the experts to pick up on. Jacqueline either didn't respond or said something he didn't want to hear, because the next thing that happened was he grabbed her by the neck and shook her and screamed at her, _"Say it! Say it!"_

_"You're my father!"_ she said, her eyes wide and looking truly frightened of what this man might do to her.

_"Say it again!"_ he told her.

When she didn't respond fast enough he throttled her until she said it again.

_"Now that we've gotten that established,"_ the Joker told her, _"You're going to be a good little girl and help me out…if you don't, I'm sending you back to that psycho ward, you want to go back there?"_

She quickly shook her head.

_"Good…alright, here's what we're going to do…you're going to help me, and as long as you do that, you're going to stay here and you won't have to worry about going back to that hospital. Got it?"_

She nodded.

_"Good…we shouldn't have any problems as long as you do what I say. Now come on, I'll show you the room you'll be staying in."_

One of the officers turned off the tape. "There you have it in a nutshell; he terrorized her so she would do whatever he said, which included helping him rob whoever they came across."

"Well all things considered, we're not going to press charges against her," Commissioner Gordon said, "I think she's been put through enough of a nightmare as it is. At this time we're trying to find any living relatives who could take her in given that she is still a minor."

"Yeah, 17, they had us fooled about everything," Robin said.

"Almost everything," Batman replied, "We figured from the start that she wasn't a willing member of what happened. Now we have the proof."

"Just one thing I couldn't figure out…the Joker made it sound like Jacqueline was terrified of him from the minute she was kidnapped. But we saw her…it wasn't until he had his hands on her neck that she showed any fear."

"In his own sick way," Batman said, "It would seem the Joker tried to protect her…he didn't want anybody finding out she was his daughter…and if he'd said that she was resilient or that he could only coerce her to a point, somebody might catch on that something wasn't right. Think about it, if you were 17, had no idea who you were, where you were, and the Joker was holding you prisoner, the odds are you'd be scared out of your mind."

* * *

"If my father doesn't want me to come and see him, then I'm going to respect his wishes," Jacqueline said.

When Batman and Robin had returned to the hospital, they went to see Jacqueline again and found her in her room, this time dressed in civilian clothes instead of a hospital gown.

"Frankly, Jacqueline, I don't understand," Robin said.

"I don't expect you to," she replied, "I can tell you had good parents so it wouldn't make sense to you. Now my mother was an angel but my father…he wasn't around when I was growing up, and I wondered who he was…and then I found out. He's one of the city's most notorious criminals and he's done all of these horrible tings, but he's still my father, there's nothing I can do about that. I wanted to find out what he was and I found out, maybe I would've been better off not knowing…he wasn't quite what I expected. But I've seen him, and he's seen me, and if he decides he doesn't want to see anymore of me…then I have no problem with that decision. I'm getting out of here anyway."

"What do you mean?" Batman asked.

"Didn't you hear?" she asked, "They found one of my relatives, an aunt on my mother's side. I'm relieved; I haven't seen her for about eight years."

"Well, before you leave I want to apologize to you for everything you've had to go through recently," Batman told her.

"Oh it was no problem," Jacqueline responded, "I'm just glad that I'm not going back to jail…but to be honest I do feel sorry for my father, confined to a padded room the rest of his days."

She went over to the window and looked down at the street. "I guess I'll be leaving soon," she turned back around and faced Robin, "Thanks for your help, Robin, it was real."

Robin tried to think of something to say in response and couldn't find any appropriate words. "It was something alright," was all he could say.

"I'm still not sure I understand Jack's motive for all this," Batman said, "We may never know how he found out where you were, but why did he bust you out to help him?"

"Maybe that was just a front," Jacqueline thought, "Sure I was good at it but maybe he had another reason for doing it. He left us right after I was born…I don't know why but I don't blame him…I think he wanted to see how I turned out, I think he wanted to…observe me…like the scientists who study the mysteries of the earth, to find out what made me tick, and why. In my family there was a common philosophy that somewhere down the line, the gene pool always deals you a wild card…I've spent my whole life wondering which one of us that was…but you know how it is with wild cards…jokers are almost always among them. I think he always anticipated I would be like him, and he wanted to find out how much. He told me near the beginning that he was going to have me help him to bring you two in so he could kill you both...he said it would be the perfect crime because it would be a family effort. I didn't want any part of it but at the time I didn't have much choice. I still can't believe I assisted him in all the crimes he _did_ commit...I guess it was a letdown to him that his own flesh and blood would betray him to help the law in his recapture."

They heard the distant sound of a woman's voice traveling through the halls and a few seconds later, a woman in her 40s stepped into the room looking concerned.

"Jacqueline? Oh thank God you're alright."

"Aunt Harriet?"

Jacqueline went over to the woman who more than anxiously took the girl in her arms.

"My poor little girl, I rushed on over as soon as I found out," she said, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jacqueline said, and added as she gestured to Batman and Robin, "I had some great company, they showed me a really great time."

"Well come on, Jackie," the woman said, "Let's go home."

"Home…that's a concept that'll take getting used to," she said as she followed her aunt out of the room. Before they disappeared down the hall, she turned around and went back to Batman and Robin.

"My father," she said, "What's going to happen to him?"

"Your father," Batman tried to think of how to put it politely, "Needs help…they're going to try and get him the help he needs in Arkham."

"For how long?" Jacqueline asked.

"He's a repeat offender, the judges ruled he's going to be incarcerated for the rest of his life."

There was something in Jacqueline's eyes that changed when Batman told her that. Looking up at him she said, speaking almost prophetically, "You can't keep him locked up forever, Batman. _Nobody_ can keep him locked up forever…someday, somehow, he'll be back…he'll _always_ come back."

The End?


End file.
